#guilt

When I touched that boy, I felt something. Something awful. Something I can’t describe.” “We all felt it,” Nick said. “You may have felt it, but I caused it.” Then both his eyes seemed to go far away. “Something changed out there. I don’t know what it was, but something in the world changed because that kid didn’t deserve what I did to him—and the powers that be know that I did it.” Nick watched as a tear fell from his Everlost eye and disappeared through the living world table. “What if,” said Nick, not even sure what he was going to say yet, “what if you were that kid and you were told you could change the world, but you would have to sacrifice yourself to do it?” Clarence chuckled at the thought. “I believe that question was already asked a long time ago, and that creepy kid did not look anything like Jesus to me.” “But you do think that something changed. . . .” “I don’t know whether it’s good or bad.” “What if it’s neither?” suggested Nick. “What if we get to make it one or the other? ↗

— Neal Shusterman

#change #good #guilt #hope #change

The antagonism between life and conscience may be removed in two ways: by a change of life or by a change of conscience. ↗

— Leo Tolstoy

#conscience #conviction #guilt #life #motivation

No one tape her deepest gifts through shame, guilt or anger. In fact, if you come from obligation, others smell the sadness in your blood and they will run the other way, ↗

— Tama Kieves

#gifts #guilt #obligation #shame #work

I knew nothing of death, and, for some unexplainable reason, I was beginning to feel guilty for that. -Jessica ↗

— Shannon A. Thompson

#fiction #guilt #minutes-before-sunset #paranormal #romance

Ako nisam kriv, onda su pogriješili, zatvorili su nedužna čovjeka. Ako me puste, priznaće svoju grešku, a to nije ni lako ni korisno. Niko pametan ne može od njih tražiti da rade protiv sebe. Zahtjev bi bio nestvaran, i smiješan. Onda ja moram biti kriv. A kako da me puste ako sam kriv? Razumiješ li? Ne treba da budemo suviše nepravedni. Svako polazi sa svoga stanovišta i smatramo da je u redu kad tako mi činimo, ali kad to oni čine, onda nam smeta. Priznaćeš da je to nedosljedno. ↗

— Meša Selimović

#innocence #prison #prisoners #trial #death

God knows we all have to at least try to justify our behavior so we don't feel too guilty about it later. ↗

— Taylor Nadeau

#guilt #justify #trying #death

In Europe the rich are refined enough to act as if they're not wealthy. That is how civilized people behave. If you ask me, being cultured and civilized is not about everyone being free and equal; it's about everyone being refined enough to act as if they were. Then no one has to feel guilty. ↗

— Orhan Pamuk

#culture #equality #guilt #refinement #rich

Was it you or I who stumbled first? It does not matter. The one of us who finds the strength to get up first, must help the other. ↗

— Vera Nazarian

#blame #correcting #error #fault #friendship

My conscience is crosswired with my sweat glands, but there's a short in the system and I break out over things I didn't do, which only makes me look more suspect. ↗

— David Sedaris

#guilt #sweat #family

Any father whose son raises his hand against him is guilty of having produced a son who raised his hand against him. ↗

— Charles Peguy

#any #father #guilty #hand #having